When Jesus offers his body as a promise to his disciples, he initiates a liturgical framework that is driven by irony and betrayal. Through these deconstructive elements, however, the promise invites the disciples into an intimate space where they anticipate the fulfillment of what is to come. This anticipatory energy provides the common thread between Donne and Dickinson, who draw specifically on the unstable story that unfolds during the Last Supper in order to develop a liturgical poetics. ...
